high of 53. but 53, who cares if it rains. >> it looks like it stopped raining a little bit. we'll see it when it comes back. we're 30 seconds to thanksgiving, carol costello. you were nursing a cold, but she slept a lot yesterday. >> thank you for joining us. that does it for "american morning." "cnn newsroom" with our friend t.j. holmes. >> hey! >> good morning. >> alina, this is a shame. i see you on tv more than i see you in person these days. i'm glad you feel better, carol. >> i'm coming down to you. >> hi, t.j., happy thanksgiving. >> talk to you both soon, i'm sure. we're crossing the top of the hour here now. the aforementioned t.j. holmes sitting in for kyra phillips and we got a show last night. the republican presidential debate. it was number 11. yes, there have been a number of these things, but you always learn something new and you

always get something new out of these and we certainly did last night. you won't see another one of these for another two weeks. so, we got quite a treat last night. we'll break down what we saw in that showdown, which was over national security and foreign policy. and these candidates, yes, they're all in the same party. it is clear, though, they are not on the same page. you see who will join me, our foreign affairs correspondent, she is jill dougherty. always good to have her. and deputy political director paul steinhauser. newt gingrich may have hurt himself last night. we'll start with a look at how far apart the candidates are on the issues of afghanistan, pakistan, homeland security and jill is breaking that down for us in this report. >> with eight republicans on stage, president barack obama got a few knicks. . >> if you love what president obama has done to our economy, you'll love what he has done to the national security. >> the candidates had the knives

out for each other. >> are you suggesting we take all the troops out next week? what is your propose snl. >> we should draw down from 100,000. >> reporter: there was heated debate on whether the post-9/11 patriot act should be extended. >> all of us will be in danger for the rest of our lives. this is not going to end in the short run and we need to be prepared to protect ourselves. >> you can still provide security without sacrificing our bill of rights. >> i think we have to be very careful in protecting our individual liberties. we forget sometimes that we have a name brand in this world. >> reporter: should specific ethnic or religious groups in america be profiled for a security screening. >> who would be profiled? >> obviously, muslims would be someone you would look at, absolutely. those are the folks who are the radical muslims and the people committing these crimes. >> that's digging a hole for ourselves. what if they look like timothy mcvague. >> reporter: in the midst of a

heavy debate, a light moment. >> is it okay for muslim americans to get more intensive patdowns or security when they go through airports than christian americans or jewish americans? >> no, blitz, that's oversimplifying it. i happen to believe that if you allow our intelligence agencies to do their job, they can come up with an approach. i'm sorry, blitz, i meant wolf. blitz, wolf. >> reporter: and what about aid to pakistan. >> i also think that pakistan is a nation that it's kind of like too nuclear to fail. >> until pakistan clearly shows that they have america's best interest in mind, i would not send them one penny. period. >> with all due respect to the governor, i think that's highly naive. >> all right, let me bring in jill dougherty. for the viewers that don't know, we call him blitz all the time,

no big deal to us, jill. >> yes, of course. >> national policy, was it difficult to pick out a winner last night? >> yeah, if there had been a real loser y think it would have been a lot easier. but there really wasn't. you had to kind of get into what they were saying. there was some really interesting moments. you know, obviously, this is a debate about, i should say an election about economics and the domestic situation. but, everybody wants to make sure that, you know, the guy or the woman who answers the phone call at 3:00 a.m. is hillary clinton used to say is going to be the person who can make rational and good decisions. and, so, you look at them and you try to figure out, is that correct? and you did see the people who have the most experience, let's say huntsman doing what he would do. you had romney, you know, doing what also people expected. he's good on his feet, in that

sense. and you had newt gingrich, who was very effective, as usual, because he is years and years of experience out there. not only as a professor, but as a commentator. so, i don't think there are any terrible mistakes. >> all right, jill dougherty for us. always good to talk to you. thanks so much. let me switch over to our political deputy director paul steinhauser in washington. all eyes last night on newt gingrich. his first debate as a frontrunner. could it now be his last because of something he said last night. >> yeah, that is the, i guess the hot topic this morning, at least here in political circles on newt gingrich. as jill just mentioned, very good debate just off the bat. very forceful going after ron paul and a strong debate for newt gingrich until late in the debate when he may have gotten in some trouble over comments on illegal immigration. take a listen to how it played

out. >> i don't see the party who says it's the party of the family is going to adopt an immigration policy that destroys families that have been here a quarter century. i'm prepared for taking the heat and saying let's be humane and enforcing the law without giving them citizenship, but by finding a way to create legality. >> amnesty is a magnet. programs have said that people who come here legally will get to stay legally for the rest of their life will only encourage more people to come here legally. we welcome people who want to come here legally. we're going to have a system that makes it easier and more transparent, but to make sure we're able to bring in the best and brightest. >> yeah. there was the moment right there and you heard mitt romney and the other frontrunner, the former massachusetts governor pushing back against gingrich. listen, it's a good argument that gingrich is give figure you're running in a general election. if you try to reach out to the core conservative voters in iowa and else where in the battle for

the gop nomination, it could be a problem. amnesty is a four-letter word for a lot of those people. if you want more proof, take a look at this. our brand-new cnn/orc poll. you can see the partisan divide here between democrats, independents and especially republicans when it comes to whether illegal immigration and taking illegal immigrants out of the country should be a top issue. it is for republicans, not nearly as much so for democrats and independents. t.j.? >> paul last thing quickly for me. the day before thanksgiving, are they taking a break from the campaign trail, all of them? >> most of them except mitt romney. big endorsement in iowa from neighboring south dakota. that could be very helpful and all comes as shannon travis, our political reporter in iowa reports a secret meeting on monday night by social conservatives looking to find a consensus candidate to take on mitt romney. t.j.? >> secret meetings. i'm sure shannon is all over it. paul steinhauser, thank you, as always. next political update is in one hour. you know the spot, c

cnnpolitics.com. seven minutes past the hour now. are you one of those about to hit the road? one of the 42 million about to hit the road ready for this long holiday weekend. aaa is predicting 42 million will drive, fly or hop on a train this thanksgiving. george howell is at atlanta's airport. certainly a busy place all year. today, as well. most people are hitting the road, right? does the airport look pretty busy? >> you know, 3.4 million people expected to travel by air and atlanta being the busiest airport in the world for passenger and operation travel, you can imagine, t.j., what happens here in atlanta will affect a lot of passengers and travelers throughout the country. so, what we found inside and after each live update i run inside to make sure i have a good understanding of what's happening. we found if the lines are growing around the security checkpoints and also finding longer lines as passengers check in for their flights. but you go inside and talk to passengers and it's the common story about being frustrated

with fees. some people who might have been late for their flights and you also find stories, especially from our military men and women who are coming in. we spoke to jason tinker who flew in from iraq. just listen to his story about coming home. >> when we walked down to the baggage claim, there was about 600 people who started whistling and clapping and it was amazing feeling. amazing. >> as far as being back, i mean, what's the first thing that you plan to do? >> kiss my wife. i've been married to her for 20 years and i love her to death. >> jason, certainly excited rather about getting home to be home with family and you find many military men and women flying in to make connections in cities across the country or just come home right here to atlanta. t.j.? >> george, thank you so much.

we'll check in, again. i will head over to jacqui jeras. i should give you more time to get yourself together. after hearing that, you can't help but get chills when you hear something like that. married 20 something years and coming home and looking forward to kissing the wife. >> great to see families coming together. as you travel out there, this is our flight explorer, t.j. this shows you all the planes in the air as we speak. there are about 4,000 of them right now across the u.s. so, when you consider there are that many planes in the air, and storms on the east coast and west coast, good to know for the most part, our flight delays are really minimal. we have 30 to 60-minute arrival delays in philadelphia. so, that's planes from other parts of the country trying to get into philadelphia. the groundstop has been lifted. it's good to know things are moving. we're also watching things on interstates and roadways and we want to focus in on boston right now. i-93 the ramp is closed now due to flooding. so major impact here. also a major impact on i-90,

which is the mass turnpike. that's all due to the rain and the low clouds that we've been dealing and this is all across the northeastern corridor here. even as the rain moves out, it will get better throughout the day, but the low clouds will continue to hang. that's a problem for a lot of people. we're also tracking things in the pacific northwest. we have a huge storm that has been sitting here for two days and bringing incredible winds and a lot of rivers which are out of their banks and we're real concerned about people driving in this area. i-5 from seattle to portland and a rough go for a whole lot of people out there today because of both of these storms and, t.j., things look a little better as we head into tomorrow. >> that's all we need to know. >> you can relax and eat tomorrow. >> jacqui, thank you. 11 minutes past the hour here now. we'll give you an update on that story out of penn state. the child sex abuse scandal. jerry sandusky, the man at the center of this is now facing some new allegations. two new cases involving alleged victims who are still under the

age of 18. we are going to be talking to the reporter who broke this story. also, one university has now suspended its entire marching band. and police point to hazing in the drum major's death. the story when we come back. stay with us. who ate my cookies and milk? oh, brother. hey, guys. ni-i-i-ck. oh... i thought those were put out for me. i did it again. no worries, nick. [ sighs ] say, nick, you must be busy this holiday. oh, yeah, with all the great savings

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about quarter after the hour. a texas judge was seen beating his daughter in that youtube video has now been suspended. the official reason was not made public. you'll remember this video, though. the daughter posted it a few weeks ago. it was taken back in 2004. also, florida, a&m university has suspended its marching band after the death of one of its members. police say hazing may have been involved and they're investigating at least two other incidents. hazing is a felony in florida. also, the university of california system will pay the medical bills of 11 students pepper sprayed by a campus cop. this happened last weekend in "occupy" protests at uc davis. the school was launching an

independent investigation. pennsylvania authorities are investigating two new cases of alleged child abuse against jerry sandusky. the alleged victims are currently under the age of 18. if the allegations turn out to be true, these would be the first known cases involving current minors to become public since the former penn state assistant coach's arrest. sarah broke this story for the patriot news and she joins me now. we say the age is under 18, but do we have any idea how old these two are? >> no, we really don't. the other thing we don't know is when in the last 60 days these last two cases were open. in pennsylvania the children and youth service agency has 60 days to deem a case, credible or not. that determination hasn't been made yet. we know that these allegations were brought forward in the last few days, but we don't know if it was after jerry sandusky was arrested earlier in november or if it was before that.

that's something we'll have to wait until these allegations, these cases are closed to find out. >> do we know how and do we know who brought these cases to the attention of authorities? >> no, all we know is that they have to involve children who are currently still minors because in pennsylvania, even if you're an adult who comes forward and alleges abuse that happened when you were a child, it's only a police matter unless you are still a child at the time that you come forward and that's when children and youth services would get involved. that's really our only indication at this point of what stage the investigation is. >> we have any idea if these kids might have been connected to second mile, the charity that he ran? >> no, again, those are details that i'm sure if these allegations, these cases are deemed credible that they will come out, but there have been several people who have come forward since jerry sandusky was arrested earlier in november and said that they were also abused by the former football legend

and, so, i think that, you know, we have to remember that there was a three-year grand jury investigation to get to the eight victims that we know of. these people will probably have to be vetted by police, interviewed and go before a grand jury and testify and then when more charges are filed, we'll have a better idea of how many credible victims there are. >> last thing here, sara, explain to us the significance and where this entire whole scandal might go given some of the other victims are older, but what does this mean now, that we're seeing two alleged victims that we don't know the ages, but what is the relevance now if we have two coming forward who are now under 18? >> i think the importance here is that they are still children and that takes on, you know, a little bit more of, well, you know, it raises more of the questions, i think, that people have been asking about why jerry sandusky wasn't arrested immediately in 2009 when the allegation was brought forward.

instead, investigators went with a different tactic and that was a three-year grand jury investigation and, you know, they did a lot of work in those three years. and it's understandable that an investigation of that magnitude with eight victims would take three years. the governor has been getting a lot of questions about why he went that route. it's important because he was actually the attorney general when this case started. didn't become governor until halfway through. so, he's been getting a lot of questions about that and that's something that he hasn't really, his answer the whole time has been, you know, can't talk about it because it's a grand jury investigation. we don't really know the answer to that. >> sara broke the story for "patriot news." thank you for spending time with us. joe paterno fought with the officer over punishments for the football players. could be talking to the reporter who broke that story for "wall street journal" little later in the hour. some of the most compelling

images from the worldwide "occupy wall street" movement did not come from network television cameras. up next, behind the scenes inside the media headquarters where the history is being recorded. the bloody battles playing out in the streets of cairo, again. protesters and police clash for a fifth day. we're getting the latest from our ivan watson. stay with me. ♪ for spacious skies ♪ ♪ for amber waves of grain ♪ ♪ for purple mountain [ male announcer ] for the first 100 years and for generations to come, thanks for making us a part of your life. ♪ whoa

22 minutes past the hour now. scenes from the recent zuccotti park conviction of "occupy wall street" protesters has been some of the most traumatic video we have seen from the movement. network cameras were banned from

the incident. didn't stop the group's own guerilla team from streaming images live on the internet. poppy harlow takes you inside the control room of the "occupy" movement. >> our mission is to tell stories that won't get told if we're not there to tell them. i think you experienced some of that this week where if you're not embedded in an activity, you cannot get that story out. >> reporter: when our cameras were blocked from filming the eviction of zuccotti park, these guys were live streaming it. >> what we do is we eliminate the area where no one reports anything. where the police can push somebody back, the press back. >> reporter: in this cramped tiny room sits the unofficial media headquarters for the "occupy" movement with a mission as spontaneous as the protests. >> what i'm doing is grabbing content and transferring instantaneously. >> we're dealing, basically, with 2,000 to 30,000 people

launching at a time. we monitor live feeds from all over the world and we picked what is the most interesting in a given time and put it on the air and do a split screen with greece, l.a. or two places that are having activity with the same time. >> so, it's not just "occupy wall street" but "occupy" movements around the world. >> we're working closely with occupations around the world and around the country to teach them how to do this. >> how important was that flux for you guys to have the ability to live stream the eviction? >> that was the main reason that we were live streaming in the first place. >> that was the night of the eviction, that's coming off a laptop and a web cam. >> eventtually that night lorenzo was arrested. here's some of tfootage live streamed during the eviction. >> i mean, it's really important

because every occupation can basically show their story to the world and show what is happening. >> do you think that what you stream here this video that you collect is going to be an important part of history? >> this is history. i mean, i don't see anything in my lifetime that rivals it. >> does this show us that you don't need a space apart. you don't all need to be there to occupy. you're occupying from here? >> yeah. i think that could be the next level of occupation. i personally think that we can't occupy the hearts and mind of people much easier than occupying a park. >> all right, poppy harlow is with me now from new york. who are these guys? how do they get the time to do this? do they need funding to do this? >> it's a great question. so, all the funding, t.j., they tell me comes from donations. no big corporate donations.

just little donations here and there. the guy with the dred locs, he has been doing this for a decade. he calls himself a video journalist going to different revolutions and movements around the world. lorenzo, the younger guy you saw he has his masters in english. he found his way to new york in july and he said he haphazardly fell into this movement. it's interesting. they're monitoring streams from dozens of occupations all the time around the clock, around the world and then deciding what to put up on that website live so you can see it. t.j.? >> a good look behind it scenes of how they do what they do, poppy harlow, good to see you, as always. getting close to the bottom of the hour and stay in new york and head over to the new york stock exchange where alison kosik is hanging out there today and, alison, a lot of people stressed out these days given the holidays coming up, but the markets, the banks, they need stress tests, as well. >> exactly. so, what is going to be happening, t.j., is that the

federal reserve will put the nation's biggest banks under some big stress tests. the goal with all of this is to make sure that the banks are able to hold up under a few hypothetical scenarios of very, very stressful situations. let's say there is a stock market crash or unemployment rate at 13% or declining economic growth. what has to happen is that the banks have to show they have enough money to keep lending if those events happen to play out. a similar situation happened two years ago where banks went through stress tests but only 19 banks did it. now, 31 have to be put to the test and getting more stringent because some new wall street regulations in effec and essentially, t.j., an effort to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past when liquidity issues became a big problem during the recession and during the whole financial crisis. t.j.? >> alison kosik, thank you. we'll check in with you again next hour. we will see you then. to our viewers coming up, we'll be fact checking the gop debate from last night. a lot of attacks and accusations and things being thrown around.

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i'll give you a look here at the bottom of the hour some of stories making headlines. actor george clooney could be called a witness in the trial of silvero berlusconi. berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute. clooney will be called because he attended parties at berlusconi's home. also today, the great american get away. aaa predicting more than 42

million people will travel for this thanksgiving holiday. also republicans battled it out last night over national security. our cnn debate. newt gingrich's immigration comment raised a lot of eyebrows. raised a lot of questions now among fellow conservatives. he called for something of a limited amnesty for long-time illegal immigrants. despite a deal to move up, a return to civilian rule, there's been no let up in the bloody street battles in cairo. protesters choking on tear gas coming under fire for a fifth straight day. the official death toll now has risen to 32. video you're seeing here was taken by our crew, including our ivan watson. he is now on the line with us

from cairo. tell us where you are and what you're seeing. i'm told we just lost our ivan watson. the pictures we are seeing here are live pictures from the square. again, these protests, these clashes going on for the past five days. the military rule there, a lot of the citizens who are out there saying they are proprotes against hosni mubarak. elections take place a couple weeks from now and now many unhappy with what the military rule was doing. some concessions made by the military rulers, but not enough to stop a lot of these demonstrations and a lot of the protests we have been seeing. we can give you 30 people reportedly killed. again, our ivan watson is down there. we'll try to get him back on the line and get him back up and give us an update of what he is seeing down in the square. coming up next the canadian rock band, nickelback is going

after its critics this morning. ♪ >> yeah, they're using humor against people who want only american groups at tomorrow's thanksgiving day nfl game in detroit. also, be sure to join us for a new show. it's happening on sundays with the good doctor. going to profile exceptional people from around the world who try to crack open the way we think. that's our dr. sanjay gupta. each week lead viewers on journey to meet groundbreakers who are changing global society. watch "the next list" every sunday 2:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. the lexus december to remember sales event is here, but only for a limited time. see your lexus dealer.

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37 minutes past the hour. time to get back with our ivan watson in cairo where we are watching a fifth day of demonstrations and protests in tahrir square. i think you're back with us now. explain to me where you are and what you're seeing. >> we're about a block and a half from the interior ministry which the demonstrators have declared as their target for days now. the fighting, the street battle seems to have come to a momentary halt. the riot police have pulled back some. the place looks like very much like a war zone. there's rubble everywhere. tear gas still hanging in the air and the kids, because this is mostly a youth protest revolt, they are lined up against the helmeted soldiers who are protecting the interior

ministry, the access way to that and they're chanting, thugs at the soldiers who are so far restraining themselves. every person i talked to here on the protesters' side of this line expect that there will be more fighting tonight. they say they do not trust the egyptian authorities. they want the soldiers to go back to the barracks to end military rule and many of them say they're just getting ready for another round of street battles. t.j.? >> it doesn't sound like from your reporting there, ivan, that most folks there are please would some of the concessions and the deal that's been made with the military leaders. >> no, not at all. and, in fact, moments after the ruling general here announced that presidential elections would be pushed up to this summer. the town in tahrir square, which numbered in the hundreds of thousands, they chanted get out. they were curious and that anger

continues today and what you see are thousands of young egyptians, mostly men, who are feeling empowered and they're furious at the authorities and showing it any way possible. right now they're pounding on the metal doors of the shops in the area, which are all closed and chanting and feeling very strong and defiant against the government. >> all right, ivan watson for us there in cairo. we'll check in, again, thank you so much. 40 minutes past the hour. now, still ahead, a new report saying that joe paterno, not only fought with penn state's disciplinary officer about his players, but the coach actually tried to keep their crimes under wraps. we're talking with the reporter who broke that story, stay with us.

all right. 43 minutes past the hour. it came down to reality tv star, former talk show host and an injured gulf war vet, one of them is this morning's new "dancing with the stars" champ "showbiz tonight's" a.j. hammer here with all the detail. this is what people were waiting for. it didn't disappoint, did it? >> no, it didn't disappoint at all. as i predicted, t.j., j.r. martinez took home that trophy. not like i'm the great weisman i was not alone in my prediction. his talent and his story made

him the favorite for most of america. of course, j.r. is an iraq war veteran and wounded so badly back in 2003 he needed 30 surgeries to repair the burns he suffered over 40% of his body and now look at the guy. soap opera star and the winner of "dancing with the stars." and "showbiz" caught up with j.r. after the show last night and talked about how he approached the competition in the same way he approaches his life. watch what he told us. >> you have to be willing to step up to the challenge. you have to maintain a positive attitude. be patientant and just fight and understand and believe that if you do those things, good things will come to you and one day, you, too, will hold your own personal trophy. i think that's the biggest thing we have been able to prove this whole ten-week journey that we've been on. >> could not be happier for j.r. t.j., while i was pulling for ricki lake, i know, i know she is cheering very loudly for j.r. today. >> you can't help it. this is a nice story, nice ending and so many reality shows

and competition and this one everybody onboard with. one more story. tell me, who has a problem with nickelback? >> well, what's happened is there was a little complaint some time ago because there were critics who were saying that nickelback should not be playing a thanksgiving day game, the half-time show for the detroit lions, thanksgiving in america. so, the band is having a little fun with their critics after these objections surface with a petition online and they put a little skit together for the folks and a record label executive wants them to be more representative of the motor city. watch what they did. >> this whole nickelback thing, it's not working. let's give motor city that motown sound that they love. you're no longer nickelback. now you're the four nickels. we'll put you guys in matching suits. >> that's not a good idea. that's a horrible idea. you're a [ bleep ] moro.

>> you're the brains of the group. >> it's pretty funny. now, the online petition did get some attention when it first started. currently 55,000 signatures say they should play a thanksgiving game in america, but i don't really think, t.j., anybody expected the band to be replaced. >> that's good stuff. i hope they don't expect them to get booed or anything, do we? is that a possibility? >> you know, who knows. that certainly is a possibility. i would like to believe. it's thanksgiving in america, we can celebrate with the north. >> to our folks, we'll see a.j. here in a little bit because next hour we'll examine where jimi hendrix stands on the list of greatest guitarists ever. we will have that answer or a.j. will have that answer when he comes back. more business headlines next hour. stay with us.

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11 minutes until the top of the hour. making news across country. a wisconsin mayor is threatening to sue his twitter impersonator. the account is actually run by a teenager. yeah, he's threatening the kid and the kid is talk about challenging the mayor and an election the kid says his tweets are satire, but he also doesn't plan to stop. a colorado soldier gives a -- oh, these just never get old, do they inlo? he returned early from

afghanistan and just surprised them. just flat out shocked them. showed up at the school on parents' day. just love seeing those. also, an illinois teacher is now on leave for allegedly boosting dozens of her students grades, most of those students are illinois teacher now on leave for allegedly boosting dozens of her students' grades, most of those students are football players. her husband happens to be the varsity football coach. i'm sure it's all just a -- the penn state sex abuse scandal not only cost coach joe paterno his job but shown a harsh light on the school's football program. now a new report in the "wall street journal" suggests paterno wanted to be judge and jury over student athlete misconduct setting up battles with the university's former disciplinary officer. the story for the "wall street journal" joins me now from new

york. if you read this story, and i have, the one you wrote, a big part of the story with sandusky is maybe paterno tried to hide things. keep him under wrap. according to your story, this seems to be a pattern for paterno when it comes to that program? >> yes. we looked at e-mails suggesting when it came to a code of conduct at penn state, every university has a code of conduct that students are supposed to follow, joe paterno wanted to, you know, the rest of the students at penn state followed the code of conduct and joe paterno wanted the football players to follow a different code of conduct. his code of conduct. and when they violated the rules either on campus or off campus, breaking the law, being arrested, he wanted to be responsible for punishing those players and in one e-mail in 2005, suggests that he also wantinged to keep that under wraps. he didn't want the public to find out about the transgressions of his football players. >> did he win most of those battles? >> yeah. it looks like he did.

i mean, in was a constant back and forth between paterno and the vice president of student affairs at the time. it looks like the football players were given more lenient punishments than they otherwise would have been given had they been subject to the same code of conduct that the rest of the students on campus were. >> does this go in stark contrast to the impression that so many of us in this country have had about how that program and how he specifically ran what he all thought was a really clean program? >> yeah. i mean, obviously, there was an image that penn state, a program that was cleaner than every other campus in the country. i mean, the students had a higher graduation rate. you know, they followed the rules. paterno would discipline them even more harshly than they would have been disciplined otherwise. these e-mails are reporting that that's really not the case. >> that disciplinary officer, she ended up leaving the school.

did she say she left specifically over these head-to-heads and again reading your article, sounds like they knocked heads all the time to the point even that he wanted her fired? >> look, she didn't go -- at the time when she resigned, she said that she shphilosophical differences. she didn't go into anymore details than that. looking at the e-mails suggest that right after a big fight that she had with paterno in 2007, over a campus brawl that broke out between football players and other students, things just went downhill for her from there, and she did resign. it looks like that had something to do with it. >> it's a really good read, in the "wall street journal." again, the author, the reporter right here with me. thank you so much. i encourage folks to check it out. thank you so much. >> thanks, t.j. let's "fast forward" to what is making news later today. 10:30 eastern time this morning, president obama will do the tradition. pardon the turkey.

the national thanksgiving turkey, a 45-pound bird named liberty. we'll have some of that for you coming up. also, 1:00 eastern time, nasa gives a preview of the next mars science mission. scheduled to launch aboard an atlas rocket saturday. 3:00 eastern, crowds bather to watch the inflation of the giant balloons used in the macy's thanksgiving day parade. but we are watching a number of developments in the next hour in the "cnn newsroom." our correspondents are out there. first jill dougherty. >> i'm jill dougherty in washington. are they ready for the proverbial 3:00 a.m. phone call? the cnn debate. americans got a chance to see the republican candidates as potential commanders in cleef. more about that at the top of the hour. i'm george howell at the world's busiest airport here in atlanta, georgia, where we are seeing lighter traffic than

normal. don't get it wrong. crowds are building. a live update here at the top of the hour. i'm dan lothian at the white house. they could have faced the death penalty, until today, when they will receive presidential pardons. a lot more on that at the top of the hour. >> great tease, dan. and seeing all here at the top of the next hour. also next hour, saved by the skin of its teeth. congress funding the project. details on the mission and the money. stay here. ing i need to get my name out there. that's the problem. now we need to give you a third identity. you're paul matheson. and you're gonna run your business into the ground. erik gustafson would never do that! there is no erik gustafson. hey that's erik gustafson!!! there is no erik gustafson!!!!! [ male announcer ] small business solutions. fedex. solutions that matter.

well, it's as big a part of the thanksgiving tradition as the turkey. football. we got it good. jeff fischel sharing sports. we got a good day tomorrow. >> three big games tomorrow and, of course, not only is there football when you think of thanksgiving. lots of hoops. a hoops junkie's feast. the maui invitational, thanksgiving in hawaii, thank you. duke and michigan. austin rivers and the foul. a prodigy. the word of the day. blue devils face kansas in the maui invitational final. time to beat the clock. coastal carolina with the ball down one to clemson in the final seconds. the miss, follows his own miss and gets it. is it in time? yes. huge upset win for coastal carolina.

there it is again. 60-59. baseball, milwaukee's brewers winning the national legal most valuable player. led the brewers to their first title in nearly 30 years. the first jewish player since sandy koufax in '93. check out where the racing fan goes to get the perfect shot at the baja 1000. check this out. he's in the ditch. and fortunately, yeah, gets cleared by inches. the baja 1000, the only race where spectators can go wherever they want. i don't know why you'd want to go there. just a spectator. not a professional. >> are you kidding me? >> and this ends well? >> he's fine. >> you know -- i'm not -- there you can see, he's walking away, fine. makes sense. >> no. doesn't make sense. >> a lot of good stuff going on. don't even mention the nba.

not thinking about it. >> interesting? people's lives go on and -- sports fans don't even think about it. >> good job. jeff? >> hope the players and owner fig ter out quick. good to see you. starting off our next hour here in the "cnn newsroom" now. well, it was republican presidential debate number 11. yes, there have been a lot, but still we got something new every time. and we're not getting another one for another two week. we need to recap what you saw or may have missed, actually, last night. another showdown. this one over national security and foreign policy. these candidates, yes, are of the same party, the republican party, but they are clearly not on the same page. let's get our coverage started with our foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty. >> with eight republicans onstage, president barack obama got a few nicks --

>> what's your -- >> i just said, i said we should draw down from 100,000. we don't need 100,000 troops. >> reporter: heated debate whether the 9/11 patriot act should be extended. >> all of us will be in danger for the rest of our lives. this is not going to end in the short run. we need to be prepared to protect ourselves. >> you can still provide security without sacrificing our bill of rights. >> i think we have to be very careful in protecting our individual liberties. we forget sometimes that we have a name brand in this world. >> reporter: should specific ethnic or religious groups in america be profiled for security screenings? >> who would be profiled? obviously muslims would be someone you'd look at. absolute absolutely. those are the people who are

committing these crimes. >> digging a hole for ourselves. what if they look like timothy mcveigh? he was a pretty tough criminal. >> reporter: in the midst of a heavy debate, a light moment. >> is it okay for muslim-americans to get more intensive pat-downs or security when he go through airports than than christian americans or jewish americans? >> no, blitz. that's oversimplifying it. i happen to believe that if you allow our intelligence agencies to do their job, they can come up with an approach -- i'm sorry, blitz. i meant wolf. okay? blitz -- wolf. >> and what about aid to pakistan? >> i also think that pakistan is a nation that it's kind of like too nuclear to fail. >> until pakistan clearly shows that they have america's best interests in mind, i would not send them one penny, period. >> with all due respect to the governor, i think that's highly naive.

>> jill dougherty is with me now. after so many of these debates, seemed easier to say, okay that person had a really good debate. that person really blew it, but last night it seems someone and -- some won and some won more than others? >> reporter: nobody really lost. the main thing. nobody wanted to make a huge gaffe, other than wolf's name and we'll talk with wolf and see how serious that was. say, cain, who did make gaffes before was a bit tentative, much more careful in saying what he would do, and you could argue that kind of weakened his argument, because he kept saying it depends. it depends. >> the other people, say huntsman, came through as expected. after all, that is his brief and he knows it very well. romney measured up to what people expected. so the most interesting thing was you did see these

differences in the way people look at some of the very important and i would say controversial issues that make up american foreign policy. >> all right. we'll talk about this more later. jill dougherty, always a pleasure. our senior political pannist david gerg analyst david gergen will be with us. security issues including airport screens. four past the hour. turning to what so many will do today and tomorrow, that's traveling. 42 million we're told are expected to fly, drive, maybe hop on a drain this thanksgiving weekend. we are covering it for you. george howell is at one of the country's busiest airports, the busiest. atlanta hartsfield. ted rollins is on an amtrak train right now headed to chicago. we'll check in with him later but jacqui jeras is the woman of the hour. if traveling, is weather going to cause me any problems, so -- >> yes -- obviously yes.

right? any little hiccup when you have so many people that are in the air especially at one time. we started this morning, t.j., at 5:00 a.m. with about 1,200 planes in the air. guess how right now? look at them all. all those blue icons are all planes in the air. 4,800 at this hour. a lot of volume. had you have low clouds across the east coast like we're seeing, even though the rain is starting to pull out of here now, the clouds will remain along with a few sprinkles. that's why we'll have trouble. philadelphia looking at arrival delays. 45 minutes. people from other places in the country trying to get into philadelphia. newark, looking at departure delay, about 30 minutes, having to do with the windy conditions we're dealing with there. look at a live picture in philadelphia to give you a better idea how things are looking there. from our affiliate. temperatures not bad. about 60 degrees in philly. overcast. not a single airplane moving right now. do you?

hate when that happens. keeping track of what's happening on the interstates. with the rain, a lot of accident reports and some roadways are flooding. be aware of that. i wanted to mention, i-83, a harrisburg expressway northbound of the baltimore area does have an accident. all lanes blocked there. a live picture of snoqualmie pass, tracking things across the pick northwest, too. 20 to 40 inches of snow, t.j., has fallen in the last two days. >> wow. as you said, yes, in will be some problems for some folk. jacqui jeras, thank you, on it for us. let's head out to hartsfield-jackson international airport. george howell is there for us. dipping in and out of between your live shots to see how thing are going. how has it changed inside as you keep checking it out? >> reporter: fair to say we are seeing a lot of people traveling. a lot of traffic outside and inside. the crowds certainly building, but one person driving a shuttle a minute ago, just stopped, yelled outside the truck and

said, this is the slowest thanksgiving he's seen in a while. fair to say that's playing into what we are seeing here. lighter traffic today, but you goed in, you do find the crowds building. you find people dealing with the different story, the backage fees, people dealing with delays from overnight weather, but you can find stories of the military men and women, great stories, of people coming home. that's what i'd like to focus on right now. we just talked to melissa meissner comes from iraq. listen to what she has to say. what is it like to be back on american soil? be back home? >> it is the best feeling. especially so close to the holidays. i think all of us are really, really excited to get to spend time with our family for the holiday. it's been so long since we've been gone. >> reporter: melissa coming back to see her 6-year-old son as are other soldiers who have been away fighting for some time. >> that's a nice moment. george howell. good to see reunions around the

holidays. thank you so much. we turn now to the white house and our dan lothian is there, and, dan, i'll judgmenal to fill in your own joke essentially here. you say to anybody in the country, i'll give everybody the option. president obama is dealing with two turkeys. fill in your own joke. >> reporter: yeah you know -- i don't want to get in trouble, because anything i say at this point could get me in trouble, but you're right. dealing with two turkeys. a lot of times people think of the pardoning, this annual thanksgiving tradition, as the pardoning of one turkey, but essentially the one turkey and its sidekick or alternate. this year they're calling it liberty and peace, they come from minnesota, which, of course, also happens to be a key battleground state. we are told by the white house that these are 19-week-old 45-pound turkeys. they got their names from submissions from 100 school children from minnesota. so that's how they came up with

the names and, of course, the president will be giving the presidential pardon to these turkeys. they will end up living on a farm here in the washington, d.c. area. you know -- a lot of people try to figure out how this all got started, and i think it's a little murky. i'm not sure i can nail it down for you. some people think it goes all the way back to president truman, but officially, this goes back to president george h.w. bush in the 1980s. he was the first official pardoning ceremony that took place here at the white house, and so far since that has started, 22 birds have been pardoned. >> why is there always a sidekick? >> reporter: you know, that's a good question. i don't have all the answers to this turkey tradition, thought ahad all the answers, you gave me that zinger. >> sorry. >> reporter: i don't know. always an alternate in case the official bird gets sick or something, they have to have something out there to pardon.

>> you know what? dan -- >> reporter: it's always two. >> it's all right, buddy. you can answer questions about sequestration and anything about the budget up there. if you don't know about a turkey, we'll forgive you. we know you know your stuff. good to see you. >> reporter: and that's no jive turkey. >> there it is. very good to see you, as always. thanks so much. we're ten minutes past the hour now. a come other things to tell you about here. one involving nasa. the other having to do with the former penn state coach jerry sandusky. new allegations and new victims possibly coming forward. that story coming your way. also, talking about nasa here. they calls this hubble 2.0. a new telescope, still a go for 2018 thanks to, what? a half a billion dollars from congress. we're looking at the new project, next. [ kimberly ] when i was 19, i found myself alone

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13 past the hour now. let's go across country. a texas judge seen beating his daughter in a youtube video has now been suspended. the official reason has not been made public. remember the story, his daughter posted the video a few weeks ago but it was actually taken back in 2004. authorities investigating new allegations of child sex abuse by jerry sandusky. reported sometime in the past two months and involved kids still under the age of 18. the former penn state coach has already been charged with 40 counts of molestation.

also, the university of california system will pay the medical bills of 11 students pepper strayed by a campus cop. this happened last week in an occupy protest at uc davis. the school is launching an independent investigation. so let's turn back to what we saw last night. debate number 11 for the republican candidates. bringing in david gergen about that debate in a second. the focus was on foreign policy and national security, but the topic of illegal immigration and amnesty came up. listen to newt gingrich and mitt romney go back and forth on this one. >> i do not believe that people of the united states are going to take people that have been here a quarter century who have children and grandchildren, who are members of the community, who may have done something 25 years ago, separate them from their families and expel them. >> amnesty is a magnet.

when we have had in the past programs that have said that a people who have come here legally are going to get to stay illegally for the rest of their life is only going to encourage more people to come here illegally. >> david gergen, chiming in. when you heard speaker gingrich say that, were you surprised? >> i was surprised. i have known for a long time that he believes in general, but didn't think he would break orthodoxy. newt gingrich has been far out on the right. this time moved towards the middle in something he does believe, but it could be the same kind of risk that rick perry has been running and in these early primary states, rick perry has been hurt by being, "soft" on immigration. here, newt gingrich termed soft on immigration. newt gingrich came out of that debate as a serious contender. if he can survive the vetting and this early scrutiny he's going to get from conservatives

and all the rest, he's going to be a serious play perp ther. the first time anybody's come out against romney who actually has a chance to go all the way. the rest, the flavor of the month, but unlikely to remain flavorful and gingrich has that possibility. >> something he said, something you're supposed to say during the general, not the primary when you're frying to pick up conservative voters. why take that risk last night? >> well, first of all, it's what he believes and good for him. that he's willing to go out there and say it, the courage. help said, i'll take the heat. he knew he would take heat on it. the other thing is, i sense -- i've had a chance to talk to him with the last ten days, and i think that he -- he's been known in the past as bomb thrower. errat erratic, yet very smart, really interesting ideas. some loony ideas, but a bit erratic. what he is, i think, who he is is, he thinks he's a more mature, stable person and some

of his humanity is coming out. after all, he is going to voters on his personal life saying i've had a lot of failures in my life. i have sought redemption. i found god, and i think that's very consistent with his view on immigration, and that is, people have been here 25 years. they should be forgiven for something they did 25 years ago if they've led, blameless lives since, and they ought to be allowed to stay as legals, as he call eed them. not legals b-- that's not gettig a lot of rave reviews. the conservative community but he's looking at, past the primaries to the general, and i think that last night he made an appeal for some of the independents who he's asking them, take a second look. i'm back. i've been out of the public limelight a long time. take a second look at who i've become. >> can you believe everybody was

leaving him for dead at the beginning of the campaign, he's at the top. see if he stay there's. david gergen, always good to talk to you, he'll be talking about liz wr about lazarus before this is over. 17 past the hour. coming up, they were saved just by the skin of the teeth. congress voting to fund nasa's billion dollar telescope project. we've got details on the mission and the money that came through. also, president obama just about to commute a death sentence -- for two turkeys. stay here. we'll have it for you. [ male announcer ] sometimes a hint is all the wrapping a gift needs.

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the big week for nasa. the space agency's prepping for saturday's launch of its mars science lab. celebrating also half a billion dollars in new funding passed by congress for hubble 2.0, what folks are calling an ambitious telescope project with big goals and a huge price tag. our john zarrella reports.

>> reporter: this is the future. scientist it's believe the real thing will redefine our understanding of our place in the universe. it will be so unique it can look further back in time than the hubble telescope. almost to the dawn of creation. >> the telescope is to help us find our entire history, from the first things after the big bang to how the first galaxies are born. >> reporter: and astronomers say if they look in just the right place and get just a bit lucky -- >> this may give us our first clue about existence of life in another solar system. >> if we could see a planet like earth, that would be really cool. >> reporter: web will orbit about 1 million miles from earth, it's instruments designed to work in the infrared range, light we can't see. web's capabilities will allow it to literally look where hubble could not, into gas and dust clouds, at the birth of the

first stars and planets. sounds incredible. right? web might get us another step closer to solving the puzzle, are we alone? >> i don't even know how you would put a price on being able to answer questions like, how old is the universe? how did this all start? where's it going? what is it made of? are there other people out there like us? these questions are just so intrinsic. >> reporter: but there is a price tag. when web is finally launched in 2018, it will be years behind schedule, and cost about $8.8 billion. $6.5 billion more than the original estimate. at one point, congress came close to killing it. so what happened? how did it end up astronomy at an astronomical cost? >> when doing inventions and things for the first time, you don't know exactly what year you're going to run into, and we found several things we had to work around.

>> reporter: and it better work from the get-go. when hubble ran into problems, space shuttle astronauts came to the rescue, but hubble was only 300 miles up. at 1 million miles away, even if the shuttle was still flying it couldn't get there to fix web. now, the u.s. space agency itself even tried to come up with alternatives to web, because of all the problems they were having. they changed the management team out. but what it came down to at the end of the day, t.j., was, they were so far downstream already, that it made more sense and was going to cost less at the end of the day to continue with the program rather than just gutting the whole thing and trying to start over with something else. so -- the promise of web is supposed to be absolutely incredible. we'll see if it ends up worth the price. >> oh, this better work, john. it sounds like a lot of ifs and certainly a lot of money. gentleman zarrella. always good to see you. thanks so much.

coming up, our political buzz panel coming your way after the break. a couple topics to tackle including a controversy over michele bachmann and jimmy fallon's band. but first -- take a look. the dow this day before thanksgiving, 163 points down. we're keeping a close eye on it. ♪ [ male announcer ] we're not employers or employees. not white collar or blue collar or no collars. we are business in america. and every day we awake to the same challenges. but at prudential we're helping companies everywhere

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moving in. ivan watson is there. what are you seeing? a stronger presence by the military? >> reporter: well, you know, a brief attempt at some kind of negotiated truce between the protesters and the army, which took over trying to protect the interior ministry here in cairo, and we saw some rock throwing from the kids at one point against the soldiers, and now for the past half hour, the soldiers have been firing rounds and canisters of tear gas at the thousands of mostly young egyptian men. many of them teenagers, that are furiously pounding on the burned out carcasses of cars here and on the walls, in the streets here in cairo. the standoff continues here. i'm surrounded by young egyptians, many of them overwhelmed by the effects of the tear gas.

in some cases collapsing unconscious from this and it just does not seem that the violence we've seen in cairo for the past five days is coming to an end. >> all right. our ivan watson is there for us. ivan, we are watching these live pictures. you are there. we'll continue to check in. thank you so much. again, we're at the bottom of the hour now pap look at some of the news making headlines. this travel day is a headline. so far so good today. things could change. weather moving in. rain in the northeast. snow in new england. flooding in philly even. our jacqui jeras has been on this for us. we'll continue to get updates from our meteorologists. and actor george clooney could be called as a witness in the trial of former italian prime minister silvio berlusconi. clooney will be called because he attended parties at bur lus

con berlusconi's home. >> look at this. a helicopter crash in new zealand. the chopper actually clip add wire. we're told the pilot was doing, would you believe, trying to install a christmas tree? the chopper comes apart. tail just snapped off. would you believe nobody was seriously hurt? and reminding our viewers, we are standing by for a scene in washington, d.c. standing by waiting for the president to come out for the annual tradition of pardoning the thanksgiving day turkeys. we have two turkeys standing by in washington. liberty and peace are the two names. two 45-pounders when the president steps out we'll bring that to you. just a fun tradition on this thanksgiving holiday, but we'll move on to our political buzz. the best political topics of the day. three questions, 30 seconds. who's playing today? georgetown university professor, chris metzler. patricia murphy in d.c. for us today. she is the politics lady and a contributor to the "daily beast"

and alexis mcgill johnson here in atlanta with us. executive director of the american values institute. of course, we're going to start with newt. he's not necessarily the warm and fuzzy guy, but listen to the new newt from last night talking about immigration. the party that says it's the party of the family is going to destroy families that have been here a quarter century and i'm prepared to take the heat for saying let's be humane in enforcing the law. >> chris, let me start with you. who is this guy? >> here's the thing. what conservatives like about newt is he's not exactly a warm and fuzzy guy, and so this may cause him a bit of problems. i think what he's trying to do is, as newt does, he is a bit undisciplined here. and he's trying to play to the general election to, perhaps, independent voters.

the problem is, he's got to win the nomination first, and you've got south carolina coming up. you have iowa coming up and in both of those constituencies, there is a huge anti-illegal immigration base, and so as a result of that, we'll see how that plays out. so i'm not sure it's going to go the same way as rick perry. newt is not rick. >> patricia, undisciplined as he says, or calculated? or maybe even honest last night? >> i have to say, this sounded like newt gingrich being honest to me, and you have to really think this is an act of political courage on his part, because he knows he's going to get clobbered by his base. i'm going to be totally fascinated to see what happens here. newt gingrich has so much authority with the conservative wing of the republican party. we'll see if he has anybody who will take his lead in order to be a leader you have to have followers. we're going to see how much leadership he'll be able to have with the republican party based exactly on this issue alone.

>> alexis, can we say this is a softer side of newt? >> call me cynical, t.j., but i have got to telly, this is a man with a compassion deficit. this is a man who left his wife when she had cancer, and how many subsequent wives after that? i'm sorry. i think this is a -- clear play to the independent vote also to the latino vote, and he's going to need them if he's going to continue to rise up in the race. the only thing i have to say is that john edwards should be watching closely. maybe he can learn tricks for 2016. >> goodness. cynical doesn't even get close to describing that. my goodness. all right. let me move on. only 30 seconds on the clock. michele bachmann, last night, she hasn't had the greatest debate performances over the past several. had a hard time actually getting in there, being noticed. last night she didn't hold back. back and forth with jon huntsman a bit. huntsman was another one. mixed it up with romney. so was this a good night for underdogs?

>> listen, a great night for underdogs except for herman cain. if you think he was an underdog. he basically got out of the race last night. he just did not have any kind of a moment where he articulated his own foreign policy. people who had grit nigheat nig michele bachmann, very strong. and ron paul. if you like ron paul you loved last night's debate. he is going to, i think, get more and more followers from the libertarian wing of the conservative party, of the republican party, based on his performance last night. great night for him. mitt romney did okay. but all he needed to be was okay last night. >> scared to ask you the question. go ahead. >> a great night certainly for huntsman and bachmann on the sheer visibility they've gotten. the clear front-runner, my opinion, still barack obama and the democratic party. because the longer the republican party goes without a clear front-runner, the better it is for us in terms of the kind of infrastructure and money we can raise and build. so i think the front-runner

continues to be obama and the weak republican field continues to be the loser. >> chris what do you see with the underdogs? >> i thought bachmann had a pretty good night. at one point i was xpexpecting r to say to perry, you, se, are an idiot. in terms of showing her expertise in foreign policy, particularly pakistan, she was absolutely stellar. what jon huntsman showed is he is probably better off in the democratic party. and that, in fact, he is trying to be the next ron paul. i mean, i think from a republican and from a conservative side, that's what he showed. i think cain was waiting for the 3:00 "a.m. wake-up call" that never came. >> last thing here. the buzzer-beater. can you name this tune, but listen closely. viewers do it as well. see if you know this song. ♪ >> any of you all name that

tune? i could not. a lot of people could not. but that was the song that the band played when jimmy fallon had michele bachmann on. now, the song is causing issues, because the name of that song is "lion blank-blank" rhymes with lion glass ditch is the name of the song. so the band apologized. they said a mixup. weren't aware of the song choice. jimmy fallon's apologized. let me start with you, alexis. no matter what you think of her politics, this isn't funny. did it cross the line? >> it crossed the line. it's never appropriate to use the b word in conjunction way woman. certainly not a woman of her stature running for office. the b word absolutely crossed line. the l word on the other hand, not so sure about. >> alexis. >> she's been -- she has pleatly exaggerated and misstated fax to increase anxiety and fear among

electorates. so i'm okay with the l word. >> according to that, if the song was titled "lion" alexis wouldn't have a problem with it. did you have a problem with it? >> yes. completely inappropriate. i don't think it's ever appropriate to call a woman by that name and i also don't think it's appropriate to call her a liar. i don't think she is a liar at all. she has some very strong views. she's putting those views forward, and i think a larger part of the question here is, how conservative women are treated in general, and particularly in the media. i think that's another part of the conversation. >> patricia, you echo those sentiments? any way to excuse or say it's satire or just a joke? >> no. there's nothing funny about it. there's nothing satirical about it. it is 100% inappropriate and yesterday actually we saw a lot of democratic congresswomen coming to michele bachmann's defense and when that happens you know if you're jimmy kimmel you've done something horribly horriblily wrong.

he aplomb jized. needed to do it. let women run for president and run on issues. you meant jimmy fallon. >> what did i say? >> jimmy kimmel. >> that's all right. >> i retract. >> time's up. it's time to go. >> i tried. >> thank you so much. >> i'm not in a giving mood because it's thanksgiving. get on out of here. >> i thought so. >> thanks. reminder to viewers, 20 minutes to the top of the hour, standing by waiting on president obama to come out shortly and pardon these turkeys. we'll take you there live when it happens. amtrak is expected to do better business over this holiday weekend and right now as we speak, our ted rollins is on a train from st. louis to chicago. we're checking in to see how that's going in a few minutes. i got mine in iraq, 2003. u.s.a.a. auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation,

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tradition at the white house, live right now. the president pardoning turkeys. >> -- also be taking two unnamed turkeys who weren't so lucky to a local food bank here in d.c. that helps those in need. and i want to thank the folks at jan dell's turkey form in pennsylvania for donating these dressed birds for the third year in a row. a great writer once calmed tled thanksgiving the one day that is ours that is purely american. when we gather around our tables tomorrow to share the fruits of our blessings, let's remember what that means. let's be grateful for what we have. let's be mindful of those who have less. let's appreciate those who hold a special place in our lives and

make sure that they know it and let's think about those who can't spend the holiday with their loved ones especially the members of our military serves overseas. i'd like to thank all our men and women in uniform for incredible service and devotion. that's what being an american is all about. even when times are tough, we look out for each other. we lift each other up and we remind ourselves just how lucky we are here, together, in the greatest country on earth. so from our family to yours, i want to wish everybody a wonderful and happy and healthy thanksgiving, and now, since liberty and peace have been so patient, it is my privilege to grant them the official pardon, and i'm going to -- i've got to give them a little symbol here. all right? what do you think? are you ready? all right. here we go. all right.

you are here pr by pardoned. give a round of applause. >> what did he do? in all the things the man who to do as president of the united states, this may be one of the most enjoyable. a long-standing tradition that goes back decades and decades. amazingly, these turkey, usually when we watch, behave surprisingly well. don't know if they sedate them before this goes down. a second turkey by the name of peace. tradition goes, these will not be heading to any thanksgiving day table. these two will live out their days somewhere in a petting zoo. not quite that, but they will live out their days, long-standing tradition at the white house. president obama pardoning the

tuckers. a quarter to the hour now. turn to showbiz, to a.j. hammer keeping an eye on a lot of people. "dancing with the stars," the champion is crowned. this is one i suppose here, a.j., everybody can get onboard with. no controversy, noble going to challenge these results. >> no. no turkeys on the dance floor last night, t.j. you can count me among the millions thrilled to see j.r. martinez taking home the trophy last night after top two identified at j.r. and rob kardashian? who would have thought. j.r., an instant fan favorite and developed excellent dancing skills along the way. it didn't come down to simply a popularity contest, as it sometimes can. the iraq war veteran doesn't just have a truly inspiring story, facing adversity because of injuries sustained in iraq, he's an incredibly likable guy and gave a great lesson to anyone facing difficulty in their life.

watch what he shared after winning last night. >> you have to be able to step up to the challenge, maintain a positive attitude, be patient and just fight and understand and believe if you do those things good things will come to you and one day you, too, will be able to hold your own personal trophy. so i think that's the big of the thing we've been able to prove this whole ten week journey we've been on. >> t.j., truly poignant words from a true champion as we head into this thanksgiving holiday. >> very cool to see there. and i was waiting to hear the other story. the top guitarists of all-time. rolling stone put together a list. who they got? >> yeah, well, you know who's at the top. is there any any other choice? jimi hendrix is right there. if you don't understand why, well, just listen. ♪ >> rolling stone magazine ranked the greatest 100 guitarists and list is an impressive list of

collections. the top five, eric clapton, jimmy page, hampton and a talented group. melissa etheridge, kravitz, santana, a collection of bands ranging from metallica to the e street band among those who weighed in. no question for the top choice. jimi hendrix, unbeatable. >> happy thanksgiving to you, and if you want more information, everything going on in the entertainment world, a.j. is your guy. he's got it for you this evening on "showbiz tonight." 11:00 eastern on hln. one. -two. -three. -one. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% back on groceries. and 3% back on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. -it's as easy as...1. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] 1, 2, 3 percent cash back for the things you buy most.

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eating even moderate amounts of canned soup significantly increases exposure to bpa, according to a new study of the american medical association. a chemical used in the interior lining of the majority of canned soups and vegetables expected to cause damage to human health. a canned food industry said the human body gets rid of it, though, as waste. take a look. a traditional look at salvation army bell rinners. ringers. yeah, but -- but, but, but -- up next, modern technology steps in as we get a new look at a holiday tradition. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents: the cold truth.

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tdd# 1-800-345-2550 into clarity. tdd# 1-800-345-2550 salvation army bell ringers are going high tech. from dallas, salvation army's major george hood. get this straight. the traditional bell ringers out on the streets, in front of the store, they aren't going away, are they? >> oh, they'll never go away. we'll never let that happen. 120 years we've had bell ringers on the street. >> so how does this become verch

wom bell ringer? >> it's important at technology is introduced we are at a point where we can communicate with consumers and donors who want to make contributions and more and more people don't want to be carrying money in their pocket when out shopping, so we've created some online opportunities not only to make contributions but also to select angels to provide christmas presents for needy children. so we've really gone to the online environment. the digital age, and we're finding many people, particularly the emerging generations, love these options as they want to become loyal donors. >> so is it a matter of, say i was a virtual bell ringer, if you will, am i actively seeking people out online? >> it's a viral relationship where you volunteer to be an online bell ringer, and you send e-mail blasts to all of your friends, people you work with, your neighbors, your relatives, and you ask them to donate to your red kettle, and there's a thermometer in in the software package that allows you to set a

goal and then track how much contributions you're receiving, and see if you can reach your goal before christmas day. >> oh. okay. that's pretty cool. now, tell me about the traditional bell ringers. do you mind to that that still works? you mentioned a lot of people are not carrying a lot of cash these day, but does that still work and you still are able to pull in a good number of contributions during the holiday season? >> quell, i'well, i'll tell you years ago i forecasted we looking at the end of the red kettle. how much did i know? last year we raised $142 million in those red kettles across america. >> wow. that still is going to be what gets it done for you. can you imagine a day, though, when online the online, the virtual red kettles will be pulling in more than those out in the streets? >> well, we think that that may happen over a period of time. it's not going to happen in the next couple of year, but the idea is, let's be accessible where the donor wants to find

us, that's when the technical and digital world is all about. >> changing with the times with the salvation army. good to see you. enjoy your thanksgiving and we look forward to seeing you out there over the holidays. thanks so much. >> thank you. a quick break. a story, next -- ununiversity suspends its entire band? stay with me. ♪ sen♪ co-signed her credit card - "buy books, not beer!" ♪ ♪ut the second at she shut the door ♪ ♪ girl started blowing up their credit score ♪ ♪ she bought a pizza party for the whole dorm floor ♪

♪ hundred pounds of makeup at the makeup store ♪ ♪ and a ticket down to spring break in mexico ♪ ♪ but her folks didn't know 'cause her folks didn't go ♪ ♪ to free-credit-score-dot-com hard times for daddy and mom. ♪

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